President Clinton agreed Friday to pay $850,000 to Paula Corbin Jones to end her sexual harassment lawsuit, finally settling a case that began as an embarrassing nuisance for the former Arkansas governor but later sparked a criminal investigation that threatened to topple him from office. In settling the case, Clinton did not apologize to the former Arkansas state clerk or admit wrongdoing. Fifteen months ago, well before the name Monica S.

President Clinton escaped conviction by the Senate in his impeachment trial in February, but he could not escape the justifiable wrath of a federal magistrate in Arkansas on Monday on a matter closely related to the impeachment case against him. U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that Clinton lied when questioned last year in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment case.

Susan McDougal, the convicted Whitewater figure who already has served 1 1/2 years in prison rather than answer questions from prosecutors, is expected to reassert her intransigence today when she is brought before a federal grand jury again. "I would bet the farm that Susan will not cooperate," said Mark J. Geragos, her lawyer from Los Angeles, in an interview. "I just can't imagine that she would."

President Clinton on Wednesday emphatically denied all of the allegations made against him in Paula Corbin Jones' sexual-harassment lawsuit and urged a federal judge to dismiss the case. Using his strongest language in the case to date, Clinton said in a court filing here that the lawsuit was a "groundless attempt" by Jones and her conservative supporters to humiliate him. He said he never sexually harassed Jones or any other woman.

Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, imprisoned for 20 months, should be freed because she has done more time than her co-defendants and may have her conviction overturned, her lawyer said Wednesday. In court papers, lawyer Mark Geragos asked a federal judge to reduce McDougal's two-year prison sentence to probation. "Susan has done more time than anybody connected with this investigation," he said. "It makes sense to resentence her and let her out at this point."

President Clinton's attorneys are looking at trying to reschedule a deposition of Clinton set for next week in Paula Corbin Jones' sexual-harassment suit, sources close to Clinton's legal team said Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Jones said Wednesday that the former Arkansas state employee plans to exercise her right to confront Clinton face-to-face at the deposition, which her legal team, in a subpoena to the president, scheduled for Jan. 17 at the White House.

Paula Corbin Jones' lawyers want President Clinton to pay at least $300,000 as a penalty for contempt of court, a figure his attorney calls "outrageous and greedy." John C. Whitehead, one of Jones' lawyers, said that attorneys who assisted the former Arkansas state employee were not adequately paid for their work when they received portions of a settlement Clinton paid to Jones earlier this year. "As far as being greedy, everyone took far less than what they put in," said Whitehead.

Re "Presidents Are Neither Above nor Below the Law," Commentary, May 25: Evidently, Alan Dershowitz has forgotten that President Clinton was found in contempt of court by Judge Susan Webber Wright for intentionally making statements to deceive and obstruct the court. He has also evidently forgotten that the president was impeached on two counts (involving lying and obstruction) by the Congress. He was soundly denounced by members of his own party for lying under oath and to the American people.